Please see my new article in The Times of Israel called “Putin on the Precipice.”Even though Yom Kippur has passed, as Jews, we always believe that there is time to walk back from the precipice. Thus, with the risk of “nuclear Armageddon” now the highest in sixty years since the Cuban Missile Crisis, there is no time for Putin to waste in ending this needless war in Ukraine and the proxy war with the West.
“Talk less and do more.” Unfortunately, Putin apparently didn’t learn this lesson as a child and is now, as they say, having to learn it the hard way later in life. He and his henchmen signaled to the world how they would bring Ukraine to its knees, surround and capture the capital, Kyiv, overthrow the leadership and install a pro-Kremlin puppet, and demilitarize the country. However, Putin spoke very big, but after a whole month of fighting now, things haven’t turned out the way Putin had counted on. With Russian casualties, wounded, captured, and missing now estimated at up to 40,000, and with the Russian forces on the retreat, no one in their right minds could’ve imagined such a modern David and Goliath scenario playing out with Ukraine as the David.
With the UN General Assembly condemning Putin 141-5, countries, companies, and leaders are sanctioning and turning their backs on Putin and Russia.
Putin has gotten himself in quite a pickle!
By ruthlessly attacking Ukraine, unprovoked, and unleashing h*ll against a sovereign nation including its core infrastructure and civilization population and even threatening nuclear war, Putin has made himself into the world’s enemy #1.
Will dictator Putin take Russia down the pickle hole with him or will the Russian people finally toss out this rotten pickle and act like respectable and civilized nation again? 😉
It hit me today—with all the news about Russia preparing to invade Ukraine and devastate its people, unprovoked, there is nobody talking about the people of Ukraine.
Our leaders and news media are so misguided and focused on the geopolitics of the thing, all they talk about is what the U.S. and EU will do in terms of some measly sanctions.
But they have completely forgotten the innocent people there—44 million of them—who face death and occupation.
Where is our leadership????
Where are the speeches about the innocent people? About freedom? About democracy? About human rights?
Where is the United Nations????
They are supposed to safeguard and maintain peace and security around the globe.
Where are the outspoken liberals who call out occupation, apartheid, and human rights abuses????
Not a word from anyone.
It’s incredible how prejudiced, biased, discriminatory and corrupt all these people can be. They can be brainwashed, bribed, and bought to speak out for those when it will somehow fit their agenda or benefit them!
But when the Russian or Chinese powerful aggressors are at the doorstep of Ukraine or Hong Kong/Taiwan—where is anybody to speak out?
Last night, I imagined the people of Ukraine sitting in fear, in worry about what will happen to them, their families, their homes.
Do the world leaders care anything about the lives of real people—men, women, and children—or only about how any conflict makes them look, and how they are polling, and the next election?
Morality and conscience–is it on life support or dead in this narcissist world of the powerful and elite. 😉
Now at best, the U.S. Navy is hoping to be able to perhaps deploy hypersonic weapons by 2025-2028.
In the meantime, the U.S. is vulnerable to its adversaries at a time when Russia and China are rearing their militaries for confrontations in Ukraine and Taiwan, respectively.
And that could be only the beginning, if we don’t get our military R&D together and fast.
How could this happen with all the money we spend on defense?
Eyes wide shut like Pearl Harbor and 9/11 all over again! 😉
When we had heroes in the real world there were also superheroes on television, movies, video games, toys, and more.
But alas leadership in our times has seriously fallen short.
Who is there to really look up to as a model for us to respect and follow?
It seems like everywhere these days we are confronted by:
– Failing leadership
– Poor decision-making
– Party politics
– Obstructionism
– Finger-pointing
– Fraud, waste, and abuse
– Bullying and sexual harassment
– Bribery and kleptocracy
– Big time narcissism
There are few if any heroes these days!
It’s sad for us as well as for our children.
I hope we see Batman and Superman and other superheroes again: strong in the physical sense but primarily a symbol for strength of character/integrity and for the fight of good over evil in this world.
The void is painful for our times and is going to impact our near term future as well. 😉